I had an amazing time in Honduras! Absolutely wonderful, and I learned a lot. But I’ll talk about that more in depth later. Much has already happened!
We arrived safely in Memphis last night at about 11:30. This morning, our clinic orientation began at 8:30, meaning that many SVOSHers had just a few hours of rest. That’s ok – in my case, I was full of nervous energy as the various chiefs of clinic came to talk to us about expectations for this summer and beyond. After all, I would be seeing my first real patient in just a few short hours.
If the words of Drs. Walker, Lievens, Gerstner, et al. weren’t enough to get me excited about clinic, actually putting my equipment in my clinic suite certainly would. For me, this was the moment when everything suddenly got real. My goodness! This was happening! I was actually seeing my first patient!
Today, I was assigned to Teen Clinic. Essentially, Teen Clinic is an intermediate department between Pediatrics and Adult Primary Care, as its name suggests. After meeting with Dr. Zarn, my suitemates and I were ready to go.
We in the suite decided that we would take patients alphabetically. Thus, I waited until 3:45 for mine. Arriving with her mother, my first patient was a thirteen-year old, ready for summer to get here. She was sweet. Good thing, too, because my exam wound up taking close to two hours. They weren’t kidding in first year! From the very beginning, we were told that our first exam in clinic would take forever. But that’s ok; that’s why it takes four years!
How did I feel during the exam? Not as nervous as I thought I would be. Slow, yes. Over the semester to come, though, I’ll definitely work on efficiency and timing while still getting good data. With my first patient encounter over (she received an updated prescription), I’ll get a few more tomorrow in Adult Primary Care! I’ll probably be slow again, but a lot of learning is about to happen. Let’s do this.
P.S. Go Grizzlies!